Seminar 2 feedback (from Greger) - groups C/D

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Dear students,

about 21 of you joined the seminar groups C and D today, Friday. We (Greger and Miriam) were happy to see you and also think that you did a good job during the seminar both regarding you bringing interesting discussion topics to the seminar as well as reflecting upon them in the smaller discussion groups. It is also very nice to get to know you a bit better than is possible during the lectures. I (Greger) hope (and require) that you will all come to the following seminar(s), that you are open, express your views and ask questions.

At the very end of the seminar today you filled out a quiz (a very light exam) concerning concepts from the 3 lectures by Brandt, Wangel and Finnveden. We checked your quizzes and are happy to say that nearly all of you passed with flying colours! In the cases of you missing a bit too much, we will contact you and ask you to complete an additional task.

Greger Henriksson and Miriam Börjesson Rivera

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Lecture 5 - Sept 12 (13-15) - Sabine Höhler

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Time and place: Wednesday September 12, 13-15 in lecture hall B2.

Title: "Spaceship Earth: Sufficiency and Efficiency Ideals in the Environmental Age"

Guest: Sabine Höhler, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH

Talk: At the time of rising environmental consciousness in the 1960's, "Spaceship Earth" became a metaphor to denote the earth's fragility as well as a model for a sustainable future. The spaceship reconciled sufficiency and efficiency ideals. While a spaceship like the ark held the hope of preserving life and nature, systems ecology and biosphere technology used it as a model for efficient environmental management on Earth and beyond. I will discuss how, between 1960 and 1990, Earth's biosphere was  seen and replicated as a complex self-contained and self-sustained life-support system.

About: Sabine Höhler is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at KTH. Originally trained as a physicist, her research centers on the history of modern science and technology, particularly the history of the earth sciences in the 19th and the 20th century. Among her fields of interest are new global history, environmental history and the history of ecology. Presently she explores the intersections of ecology and economy in the view of ecosystems as service providers.

Literature to read before the lecture:

- Boulding, Kenneth (1966). The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth, in "Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy", Essays from the Sixth RFF Forum on Environmental Quality, edited by Henry Jarrett (pp. 3-14). Baltimore, John Hopkins Press.

Note: Available in Bilda.

- Fuller, Richard Buckminister (1969). Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth. Carbondale, Southern Illinois University Press. Extract from chapter 4, "Spaceship Earth" (5 pages).

Note: Available in Bilda.

- Höhler, Sabine (2010). The Environment as a Life Support System: The Case of Biosphere 2". History and Technology, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 39-58. Note: Available in Bilda

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Seminar 2 feedback (from Greger) - groups A/B

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Hello.

About 23 of you joined the seminar groups A and B today. We were two teachers, Mohammad (A) and Greger (B). We think you did a nice job in bringing discussion topics with you to the seminar and reflecting upon them in the smaller groups.

We were also pleased to get a better personal contact with you than what is possible during the lectures. I (Greger) hope (and require) that you will all come to the following seminar(s), be open, express your views and ask questions.

At the very end of the seminar today you filled out a quiz (a very light exam) concerning concepts that have been covered during the lectures by Brandt, Wangel and Finnveden. I checked all of the 23 handed in quizzes with the aim of finding out if your answers were 'more right than wrong'. I actually did find that all of you were more in the right than in the wrong for at least 2 of the 3 questions! As far as I can see, that means that you were all good enough.

However, there are always things to discuss, both in terms of formulating questions and in answering them. Therefore I suggest that when you come to the next seminar (with me and a colleague of mine), you should have looked up appropriate answers for those questions you felt uncertain about today. OK?


Greger Henriksson
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Lecture 4 - Sept 11 (13-15) - Daniel Pargman

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Time and place: Tuesday September 11, 13-15 in lecture hall B2.

Title: "Global resource challenges and implications for ICT and media"

Guest: Daniel Pargman, Assistant Professor in Media Technology at the School for Computer Science and Communication, KTH

Talk: You have by now heard several lectures focusing on the meaning of sustainability and the challenges regarding climate change (CO2 emissions, global environmental challenges etc.). I will try to convince you that resource challenges and a global "energy crunch" will pose a more immediate concern than the (possibly more serious, but also acting on a longer time horizon) challenge of climate change - even though these two issues are tightly linked.

The first part of the lecture will concern resource and energy issues (especially "peak oil") and the second part will discuss implications for ICT and media technologies. Note: the first part of the lecture will use an "unorthodox" lecture format (see the instructions below).

About: DanielPargman is Assistant Professor in Media Technology at the School of ComputerScience and Communication, KTH. His research interests concerns social media,virtual communities, Internet culture, sustainability and resource challenges.He is a member of the steering committee for the VINN ExcellenceCenter for Sustainable Communications (CESC) at KTH and is tasked with startingup a research group, “ICT in a sustainable future” at the Department on MediaTechnology & Interaction Design at KTH. Daniel has written and taught about the connections between Internet values and grassroot practices in the computer hacker culture, on the Internet and in the open source movement.

Instructions and literature to read before the lecture:

1) Start by looking at this 35 minutes long film with the not-so-uplifting name "There's no tomorrow". Please do not look at it on your smartphone while you're on the move. The film is packed with information, so treat it the same way you would treat a complex text (or a math problem). Concentrate on the movie and keep paper and a pencil at hand in order to write down any questions or thoughts that the film raises (and it should raise many questions). The first part of the lecture will primarily be based on the questions you bring with you to class. The movie is "backed up" by two texts that you should also read (see below).

2) Rubin, Jeff (2009), "Why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller: Oil and the end of globalization". Chapter 1, "Redefining recovery". Note: available in Bilda.

3) Heinberg, Richard (2003), "The party's over: Oil, war and the fate of industrial societies". Parts of chapter 1 ("Energy, nature and society") and chapter 2 ("Party time: The historic interval of cheap, abundant energy". Note: available in Bilda.
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Attendance

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If you read the course PM (see previous blog post), you will notice that attendance is pretty important in this course.

I have created a Google document where you can check out your attendance this far. The goal is to update the document at least once per week. This document is not "published on the web" (should thus not be found in web searches), but it is available to anyone who has the link (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjSX1UzPXs2MdHJhZXRDeVV6cjZpY29vemdqUUVnZlE).

Do check the document out now and then and do get in touch with me if you think the information in the document is not correct.
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Course PM available in Bilda

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A course PM of kinds, focusing on course requirements, examination and grading, is now available in Bilda (Documents/Course examination and grading.pdf).

This is of interest to everyone who takes the course, but especially those who did not attend the course introduction last Tuesday where much of what is in the document was presented.
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Instructions for seminar 2 (Wed + Fri this week)

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Forwarded from Greger Henrisson at the Division for Environmental Strategies Research (FMS):

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In this seminar we will discuss the readings for the seminar with issues highlighted by you as our point of departure. You therefore have to bring discussion topics, printed on a sheet of paper, to the lecture. Don't forget to sign/print your name on the paper = proof of attendance at the seminar.

‘Discussion topics’ means a couple of questions or reflections in relation to ideas, messages or statements from at least two of the texts. You should write about 100-200 words (1/4 - 1/2 page of text). Your reflections and questions will be discussed during the seminar. And remember, don’t write a review – highlight issues you find intriguing.

The last 10 minutes of the seminar will be reserved for a ‘mini quiz’ regarding the readings for the previous lectures. This quiz will help us teachers see that all students can get a ‘pass’ on this part of course. The questions in the quiz will be based on those concepts in the readings that were highlighted by the lecturers.

Readings for the seminar:

Heinberg, Richard (2010) What Is Sustainability? Published in Heinberg & Lerch (eds.), "The post-carbon reader: Managing the 21st century's sustainability crisis. Note: Available online and as a pdf in Bilda.

David J.C. MacKay (2009). 10-page synposis of his book, "Sustainable energy: Without the hot air". Note: Available online and as a pdf in Bilda.

Brown, Lester (2009). "Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization". Read chapter 8, "Restoring the Earth", pages 192-215. Note: available online.